Politicians aren’t known for attributes like honesty and trustworthiness, but sometimes they can even surprise me with how far they’re willing to reinforce this cynicism.
Take First Lady Jill Biden’s latest interview with CBS Morning. In one moment, she tells host Rita Braver she did not think President Joe Biden was falling into cognitive decline during his time in the White House despite information we now have that suggests he had been deteriorating mentally and physically.
The two discuss the now-infamous July 2024 debate between Biden and President Donald Trump, in which Biden stumbles repeatedly, effectively ending his campaign.
“Were you horrified as you saw it unfold?” Braver asks.
“I wasn’t horrified,” Biden says. “I was frightened because I had never ever seen Joe like that. Before or since. Never.”
Later, Biden clarifies. “As I watched it, I thought, Oh my God, he’s having a stroke.”
That’s truly a fascinating anecdote, because I remember the Bidens visiting a Waffle House immediately after the debate, not a hospital or physician, as one might do if a stroke seemed imminent.
At a post-debate rally in Atlanta, Biden introduced the president on stage and praised him. “Joe, you did such a great job. You answered every question. You knew all the facts,” she said, beaming. That doesn’t sound like a woman who was worried about her husband’s health. I’d love to know if she asked the White House physician or any medical personnel about what she observed or was worried about. If not, why not?
The fact is, it doesn’t seem like Biden was worried at all about her husband—she’s just insisting on revising history and gaslighting the American people, either to obfuscate her role in his decline, or to abdicate her responsibility for communicating the truth.
The CBS Morning interview prefaces the publication of Biden’s memoir, “View from the East Wing,” which publishes June 2.
According to excerpts, Biden observed that Vice President Kamala Harris demanded that President Biden endorse her immediately, as if she were a “courtroom prosecutor.” Biden did, in fact, endorse Harris in a statement about half an hour after announcing he was dropping out of his reelection campaign. She lost handily, of course, to Trump.
In a damning 2025 House Oversight Committee report, the public learned that Biden was not only struggling with mental and physical health, but the Democratic Party and his inner circle covered it up. Either Harris and Biden were unaware of his decline, or they knew he was ill and ignored it for their own political and personal gain—which explains why Harris demanded an immediate endorsement.
This is why Biden’s comment that her husband was having a stroke is so offensive. She is now saying that he was struggling, even though this has never surfaced before, but failed to take action in real time. The idea that he may have been having a stroke also elicits empathy, not accountability, which seems to be her goal as well. People are more likely to sympathize with victims than with liars.
I have empathy for President Biden. If he was struggling and in need of medical or mental health aid, he should have gotten it. But the American people are entitled to the truth about the president’s health. And it still sounds like his family, inner circle—including Harris—wanted to hide the truth from the American people to maintain power, despite whatever he was enduring. Even that has failed now, too, and it’s easy to see why.
Biden’s interview shows that the Democratic Party continues to be dishonest with itself and the American people, which is why they have yet to find a new leader or gain any momentum in years. Jill Biden’s strange anecdote about Biden possibly having a stroke to explain the worst debate of his life demonstrates that she and the party would rather gaslight the American people, than self-reflect and rebuild—trust be damned.
